Nestable cups and holders

ABSTRACT

Thin-walled, expendable cups are formed to nest within one another and to have a snap fit interlock with a reusable cup holder. The cup holders may also be formed to nest within one another to provide a reduced overall height for a plurality of stacked cup holders.

United States Patent Giacinto C. D'Ercoli Park Forest, 111. 786,975

Dec. 26, 1968 Aug. 3, 1971 Solo Cup Company Chicago, 111.

[72] Inventor [21 Appl. No. [22] Filed [45] Patented [73] Assignee [54]NESTABLE CUPS AND HOLDERS 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

[52) US. CL 220/97, 1344/10 (13), 220/85, 229/15, 248/1453 [51] Int. Cl.B65d 21/02, A47g 19/23,A47g 19/03 Field 01 Search 220/85 H, 97 B.97 C.97F: 229/].5 H: 248/1453: D44/l0(13), 9.1; 09/220 [56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 3,123,273 3/1964 Miller 3,139,213 6/1964 Edwards3,207,461 9/1965 Holzwarth.. 3,232,512 2/1966 WandererPrimaryExaminer-George E. Lowrance 220/97 C X 220/97 C D44/ 13 UX 229/ 1.5 H

A lmrney- Anderson. Luedeka. Fitch. Even & Tabin ABSTRACT: Thin-walled,expendable cups are formed to nest within one another and to have a snapfit interlock with a reusable cup holder. The cup holders may also beformed to nest within one another to provide a reduced overall heightfor a plurality of stacked cup holders.

PATENTEDAUG awn 3,596,795

' snmaorz FIG.3

NESTABLE CUPS AND HOLDERS This invention relates to thin-walled, plasticcups or con-I tainers of the expendable kind for receiving hot or coldits nested and stacked position. Failure of the holder and cup toreadily and tightly interlock necessitates'several thrusts of the holderon the cup. Such failure to interlock is time consurning and irritatingto the user.

Occasionally several of the uppermost cups of the stack cling togetherand lift with the holder from the stack, whereas only a single cup isdesired to be lifted. .This necessitates separation of the extra nestedcup or cups, which is not only time consuming, but defeats the desiredsanitary 1 end of removal of the cups from the stack without touchingwith the hands. Y

The nature of the interlock between the cup and holder'at the time ofuse by the consumer is also important, for if the" cup is loose in theholder, the cup may tip or separate from the holder spilling itscontents. Compounding the problem of providing the suitable interlockbetween thecup and the holder .is the fact that the contents in the cupmaybe quite cold or quite hot and, hence, cause swelling or shrinking ofthe cup'relative to the holder. Such a changein'dimension may result ina loose interlock, if the cup and holder areonly marginally interlocked.While, the interlock must be sufficiently strong to prevent separationof the cup from the holder during use and with dimensional changes dueto thermal changes, this interlocking should not be so strong that thecup cannot be readily separated from the holder and thrown away afteruse,

In addition to meeting the various requirements as to interlocking, thecup must be designed so that-it can bereadily mass-produced and attolerances commonly accepted "for plastic molding of such cups.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved, as contrasted with the prior art, cup or container which willinterlock with the holder and alleviate the shortcomings of conventionalcups and holders of this kind. Y

. .Other objects and advantages of the-invention will become apparentfrom the detailed description taken in'connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of the cup embodying the inv vention withthe holder being shown in section toexpose the cup to view;

FlGJZ is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of interlockingportions of the cup and holder shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, elevational view of the cup of FIG. 1; I

FlG.'4 is the top, plan view of the cup shown in FIG. 3;'and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of stacked and nested holders. Generally,as shown in the drawings for purposes-of illustration, the invention isembodied in a container or cup 1 1 which is generally a truncated conehaving an open top 13, an

inclined sidewall 15, and a bottom'wall 17 which is integrally joined tothe lower end of the inclined sidewall 15.Thecup 1 1 is of thethin-walled, expendable and nestable'. kind for'use with a reuseableholder 19 and is formed with a series of relatively' narrow, flexible,reversely tapered locking rings 21 in a Proceeding now with a moredetailed description, the cup sidewall 15' inclines outwardly andupwardly at a relatively constant'slope from the bottom wall 17 to arolled rim 25 at the top of the cup, although the cup maybe formed withportions of different taper. The cup is one piece, seamless and ispreferably molded from a suitable plastic material such as polystyrene,but other materials may also be used for the cup and fall within thepurview of the present invention-The cup is a "thin-walled cup with itssidewalls being of a uniform thickness throughout and within the rangeof 0.006 and 0.025 inch with a 0.0 l S inch wall thickness beingpreferred.

The cup wall 15 is thin and formed of flexible material and, as thelocking rings are disposed considerably above its more rigid bottomsection at the bottom wall 17, the locking rings '21 are capable offlexing inwardly toward a central, longitudinal axis as the lockingrings engage .the wall of the holder 19. In the illustrated cup, aplurality of locking rings 21, six in this instance, are spacedlongitudinally along a central section of the cup wall 15 forinterlocking with an equal number of locking seats 23in the holder.While the number of locking rings 21 may be varied from the sixillustrated, sufficient locking rings 21 are provided between the cupand holder to provide relatively'la'rge and longitudinal spaced areas ofinterlocking engagement. By providing these large and spacedinterlock'ed areas, relatively shallow grooves or seats 23 may be usedin contrast to the single deep groove in prior art cup and holderarrangements. As shallow grooves require less flexing of the cupsidewalls to accomplish snap f t interlocking of the cup to the holder,the holder'19 telescopes into interlocking relationship with the top oneof an inverted stack of cups with a minimum of force.

In the'illustrated embodiment of the invention, the locking rings 21 areidentical in configuration although the diameters of the locking ringsincrease progressively in size from the lowest to highest ring. Eachlocking ring is formed with an annular or ring wall 27 whichis taperedreversely to the taper of the cup sidewall 15 as a whole. That is, thediameter at a lower edge 29 of each ring wall27 is equal to or slightlylarger than the diameter at its upper edge whereas the remainder of thecup sidewall 15 is formed with progressively increasing diameters fromthe bottom wall 17 upwardly to the rim 25. For example, in a l4-ouncecapacity cup of the kind illustrated, the diameter for the lower edge 29of each ring wall 27 is about 0.034 inch larger than the diameter forits upper edge 31. For a l4-ounce cup, each ring wall 27 extendsapproximately 0.090 inch in the longitudinal direction, i.e., parallelto'the longitudinal'axisfor the cup. Between adjacent ring walls isformed a generally transversely extending wall or shoulder 32.

For the purpose of facilitating telescoping of the cup 11 into theholder 19 and the inward flexing of the transversely extending, shoulderwall 32 of a cup, the holder 19 is formed with sloped supporting walls33 which slope downwardly and inwardly toward the center of the holder.These sloped supporting walls 33 function in the manner of cam surfaceswhich gradually cam the shoulder walls 32 inwardly toward the cup axis'as the latter abut and slide therealong. ln this way, the

shoulder wall 32 of each locking ring 21 is flexed inwardly until itslides down past the lower edge 35 of the engaged sloped supporting wall33 and expands into an annular seat or groove defined by an annular wall37 which extends upwardly and inwardly also at a reverse taper from anupper edge of one sloped supportingwall 33 to a lower edge 41 of thenext above sloped supporting wall 33. Having expanded into the groovedefined by the annular wall 37, the cup shoulder wall 32 abuts 'the nextlower sloped supporting wall 33 of the holder and rests thereon.

The illustrated sloped supporting wall 33 slopes downwardly at a 45"angle to a plane normal to the axis of the cup, i.e., a horizontalplane. Whilethis angle may be varied, it is preferred to providesufficient slope to cause gradual inwardly flexing of the cup sidewall15 rather than a sharp abrupt flexing. For the illustrated l4-ounce cup,the diameter at the lower edge of seat wall 37 is about 0.034 inchlarger than the diameter of the upper edge thereof; andthe wall issloped downwardly and outwardly from the longitudinal or verticaldirection at an angle of about 3. In the illustrated holder each of thelocking seats 21, which includes both a therein and prevent the fulltelescoping of one cup within another to the extent that the bottomwalls 17 thereof would abut. A full telescoping of the cups would resultin tightly engaged sidewalls and increased friction between the cupsidewalls 15 retarding the free release of the topmost cup from a secondcup of a stack of nested cups. Quick release and removal of a single cup11 is aided by the venting of air through openings or spaces 45 betweenthe adjacent stacking ribs 43. The sidewalls 15 of adjacent telescopedcups remain spaced from each other throughout including the lockingrings 21 so that air may pass readily down through adjacent lockingrings 21 of adjacent, telescoped cups. Thus, air may flow through anannular space between the spaced sidewalls of telescoped cups andthrough the venting openings 45 into the expanding space between therespective bottom walls 17 of the cups 1 1 as one is being removed.

In this instance, six stacking ribs 43 are in the form of angularlyspaced protrusions which are integral with and extend inwardly from thecup sidewalls 15 to provide surfaces 47 for abutting the bottom wall 17of an inserted cup. In the illustrated cup, the stacking ribs 43 arespaced equidistantly from each other by aboutthree-eights of an inchwith the top surfaces 47 of each rib disposed about 0.13 inch aboveoutside surface of the bottom wall 17. Thus, the rim 25 of each nestedcup 11 extends approximately 0. l 3 inch above the rim of next belownested cup. The stacking ribs 43 project inwardly from the inclined wallfor a suitable distance, in this instance for about 0.024 inch, toprovide a support for the bottom wall 17 of an inserted cup.

As the cup 11 is to'be used with the holder 19, the bottom wall 17 ofthe cup may be pointed and in this instance it tapers downwardly andinwardly to the axis of the cup at an angle of about 5 to thehorizontal. It is preferred that the 5 taper for the wall 17 begin at apoint 51 spaced inwardly (FIG. 2) from the cup sidewall 15 at aboutone-sixteenth of an inch. This leaves a flat annular ring 53 around thepointed portion of the bottom wall 17 to abut the stacking ribs 43 ofanother cup.

The holder 19 may be made of any suitable molded plastic material whichhas good strength, heat resistance, chemical resistance and abrasionresistance; and a suitable plastic such as polypropolene, polyamides orpolyoxymethylene may be used. Because the holder 19 is used repetitivelyfor long periods of time, it is made of much heavier and more rigidconstruction. Thus, the sidewalls of the holder are considerably thickerthan the sidewalls 15 of the cup 1 l. The illustrated holder 19 is openat both a top opening 55 and at a lower opening 57 which is of a smallerdiameter than the diameter of the top opening 55. A suitable handle 59may be integrally formed on a sidewall of the holder for grasping by theuser. Preferably, the handle is located generally at the location of theinterlocking rings 21 and seats 23 to provide increased stability.

The holders 19 are also formed with a substantially truncated conicallyshaped wall and can be telescoped and nested one inside the other toreduce the cumulative height for a given number of holders (FIG. 5).When nesting the holders 19, handles 59 of adjacent holders areangularly displaced so that a bottom web 60 of one handle does notstrike a top web 61 of another handle and interfere with'the fulltelescoping of the inserted holder.

When a holder is fully inserted into stacked position in another holder,it abuts its bottom ring wall 63 on means defining a transverse supportwall which, in this instance, is.

defined by transversely extending shoulders 65 forming the top of ribs67 extending vertically in and along the lower portion of the interiorwall of the holder 19. The shoulders 65 are aligned in a horizontalplane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the holder to definethe support wall for stacking. The

ribs 67 are spaced angularly about the inner wall of the holder andproject inwardly toward the axis of the cup from a cup vertical wallsurface 69 to an inner rib vertical wall 71. This rib wall 71 will bespaced slightly from the inclined wall 15 of a cup 11 (FIG. 1) but willintersect and support thebottom ring wall 61 of another inserted holder19. The ribs extend vertically from the bottom wall 63 to'the shoulders65 and this height is sufficient to pennit the handle 59 of the insertedholder 19 to clear, i.e., be spaced from, the top rim wall of itssupporting holder 19. By forming a lower portion 75 of the holder wallmore nearly cylindrical and at a small diameter than its top portion 76,the inserted holder is able to be telescoped relatively deeply intoanother holder and still space its top portion 76 from the locking seats23 in its supporting holder. Preferably, the ribs 67 extend upward to aplane 80 at which the lower more vertically tapered portion of theholder is integrally joined to the upper portion of the holder.

From the foregoing it will be observed that both the holders l9 and thecups 11 may be telescoped and stacked for reducing the overall heightneeded for storage thereof. Also, the cu and holders are readilyinterlocked by a snap fit at a location which provides for goodstability for the cup and the liquid contents therein. The cups andholders are particularly suited for achieving low cost, mass productioneconomies.

Various of the features of the invention are set forth in the followingclaims.

What I claim is:

' 1. A cup of a thin-walled, expendable, nestable kind, said cup beingof substantially truncated conical shape having an open top and beingsymmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, asidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to saidlongitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewallreinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wallintegrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, saidbottom wall including an outer ring portion and inner, downwardlytapering, pointed portion projecting below said sidewall, a series oflocking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited andpredetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclinedsidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower lockingring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reverselyinclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edgethan at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ringwall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposedsubstantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, and an internalstacking ring formed in the lower section of said sidewall to engagesaid outer ring portion of the bottom wall of a telescoped cup nestingtherein.

2. A combination comprising a cup and a holder therefor, saidcombination including a thin-walled, expendable, nestable cup ofsubstantially truncated conical shape having an open top and beingsymmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, asidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to saidlongitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewallreinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wallintegrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, aseries of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in alimited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of theinclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lowerlocking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having areversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at itslower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edgeof one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and beingdisposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, asubstantially, truncated conically shaped'wall on said holder disposedclosely adjacent to the inclined sidewall of said container, a pluralityof locking seats in said holder wall for snap fit interlocking with saidlocking rings, said locking seats having transverse support walls eachof which slopes downwardly and inwardly toward the longitudinal axis ofsaid cup to abut and flex one of the cup shoulder walls inwardly and tosupport the next above shoulder wall, said locking seats including aring wall joining adjacent ones of said transverse support walls anddefining a space into which a shoulder wall may expand after beingflexed whereby the locking rings may be interlocked with said lockingseats.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse supporting wallsof said holder are inclined downwardly and inwardly to facilitatecamming of said flexible container ring walls inwardly during the snapfit interlocking.

4. The combination of claim 2 in which said ring walls of said holderare inclined to the longitudinal axis of said holder with a largerdiameter at the lower edge than the upper edge thereof..

5. The combination of claim 2 in which locking rings and seats in saidcup and holder are located above the midpoints of their respectivesidewalls.

6. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse sup- 7. A molded,one-piece, plastic, nestable holder for thinwalled, expendable cupscomprising, a substantially truncated conically shaped wall inclinedupwardly and outwardly to a longitudinal axis through the centerthereof, a lower portion of said conical wall having a diameter smallerthat that of the portions thereof above and serving as a base for theholder, a plurality of rigid, transverse shoulder walls formed in theupper and interior portion of said truncated, conically shaped wall toprovide locking seats for snap fit interlocking with an inserted cup, ahandle extending outwardly from adjacent the top of said truncatedconically shaped wall, the lower portion of said conically shaped wallhaving a plurality of ribs spaced angularly along the interior of thelower portion of said truncated conically shaped wall, said ribsextending upwardly from said base, shoulders formed at the tops of saidribs to support the base of another nested holder, said shoulders beingspaced upwardly from the base of said holder by a distance greater thanthe distance said handle extends downwardly from the top of the upperportion of said holder to prevent said handles from interfering withinsertion of a base to a position in abutment with said shoulders.

8. A holder in accordance with claim 7 in which said transverse shoulderwalls for snap fit interlocking with an inserted cup are slopeddownwardly and inwardly toward said longitudinal axis to cam inwardlyportions of a cup being inserted therein.

1. A cup of a thin-walled, expendable, nestable kind, said cup being ofsubstantially truncated conical shape having an open top and beingsymmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, asidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outWardly to saidlongitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewallreinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wallintegrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, saidbottom wall including an outer ring portion and inner, downwardlytapering, pointed portion projecting below said sidewall, a series oflocking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in a limited andpredetermined portion of an intermediate section of the inclinedsidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lower lockingring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having a reverselyinclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at its lower edgethan at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edge of one ringwall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and being disposedsubstantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, and an internalstacking ring formed in the lower section of said sidewall to engagesaid outer ring portion of the bottom wall of a telescoped cup nestingtherein.
 2. A combination comprising a cup and a holder therefor, saidcombination including a thin-walled, expendable, nestable cup ofsubstantially truncated conical shape having an open top and beingsymmetrical about a longitudinal axis through the center thereof, asidewall on said cup inclined upwardly and outwardly to saidlongitudinal axis, a rim on the upper section of said sidewallreinforcing the same about the top opening of the cup, a bottom wallintegrally attached to a lower section of said inclined sidewall, aseries of locking rings spaced longitudinally along and formed in alimited and predetermined portion of an intermediate section of theinclined sidewall, said locking rings increasing in size from a lowerlocking ring to an upper locking ring, said locking rings having areversely inclined ring wall being defined by a larger diameter at itslower edge than at its upper edge, a shoulder wall joining a lower edgeof one ring wall with the upper edge of an adjacent ring wall and beingdisposed substantially transverse to the longitudinal direction, asubstantially, truncated conically shaped wall on said holder disposedclosely adjacent to the inclined sidewall of said container, a pluralityof locking seats in said holder wall for snap fit interlocking with saidlocking rings, said locking seats having transverse support walls eachof which slopes downwardly and inwardly toward the longitudinal axis ofsaid cup to abut and flex one of the cup shoulder walls inwardly and tosupport the next above shoulder wall, said locking seats including aring wall joining adjacent ones of said transverse support walls anddefining a space into which a shoulder wall may expand after beingflexed whereby the locking rings may be interlocked with said lockingseats.
 3. The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse supportingwalls of said holder are inclined downwardly and inwardly to facilitatecamming of said flexible container ring walls inwardly during the snapfit interlocking.
 4. The combination of claim 2 in which said ring wallsof said holder are inclined to the longitudinal axis of said holder witha larger diameter at the lower edge than the upper edge thereof.
 5. Thecombination of claim 2 in which locking rings and seats in said cup andholder are located above the midpoints of their respective sidewalls. 6.The combination of claim 2 in which said transverse support walls ofsaid holder are inclined downwardly and inwardly to facilitate cammingof said flexible container ring walls inwardly during the snap fitinterlocking.
 7. A molded, one-piece, plastic, nestable holder forthin-walled, expendable cups comprising, a substantially truncatedconically shaped wall inclined upwardly and outwardly to a longitudinalaxis through the center thereof, a lower portion of said conical wallhaving a diameter smaller that that of the portions thereof above andserving as a base for the holder, a plurality of rigid, traNsverseshoulder walls formed in the upper and interior portion of saidtruncated, conically shaped wall to provide locking seats for snap fitinterlocking with an inserted cup, a handle extending outwardly fromadjacent the top of said truncated conically shaped wall, the lowerportion of said conically shaped wall having a plurality of ribs spacedangularly along the interior of the lower portion of said truncatedconically shaped wall, said ribs extending upwardly from said base,shoulders formed at the tops of said ribs to support the base of anothernested holder, said shoulders being spaced upwardly from the base ofsaid holder by a distance greater than the distance said handle extendsdownwardly from the top of the upper portion of said holder to preventsaid handles from interfering with insertion of a base to a position inabutment with said shoulders.
 8. A holder in accordance with claim 7 inwhich said transverse shoulder walls for snap fit interlocking with aninserted cup are sloped downwardly and inwardly toward said longitudinalaxis to cam inwardly portions of a cup being inserted therein.